ANNAPOLIS, Md. (CN) — A clinical psychologist called to testify by public defenders representing Capital Gazette shooter Jarrod Ramos told jurors Wednesday that jail records illustrate he ate on the floor and smeared his feces in his cell.
The testimony came during the sixth day of a trial to determine whether the admitted killer’s state of mind absolved him of criminal responsibility for the June 28, 2018, shooting that claimed the lives of five employees of the Annapolis, Maryland-based newspaper: John McNamara, Gerald Fischman, Wendi Winters, Rob Hiaasen and Rebecca Smith.
Direct examination of Dr. Catherine Yeager, who works at Eisenhower Army Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Georgia, continued on Wednesday after the psychologist discussed her diagnoses of the defendant the day before, classifying Ramos as having three separate mental illnesses. Yeager testified about Ramos’ delusional disorder for the majority of Wednesday morning.
An article by Capital Gazette reporter Eric Hartley on Ramos’ harassment of a woman on Facebook had a “profound effect” on the shooter, Yeager said. Between her own personal interviews of Ramos and notes from interactions Ramos had with other clinicians around the time of the article’s publication, it was clear to Yeager the article was “the tipping point” for his delusions to evolve.
Reviewing records from Ramos’ time at Anne Arundel County Detention Center, Yeager noted his behavior was “bizarre." She said Ramos would lick his foot tray completely clean and eat on an area of the floor in detainment, noting his rationalizations “made no sense.” She also noted incidents of Ramos smearing feces on his cell, which is seemingly at odds with her previous testimony about his disdain for germs and what he described as “human filth.”
She added Ramos showed symptoms of the hair-pulling disorder trichotillomania, as records indicate he had been pulling out his own eyebrows. The records also reportedly show Ramos collected and organized shampoo bottles, more evidence of obsessive-compulsive habits.
Anne Leitess, the Anne Arundel County state’s attorney, attempted to counter the defense strategy and noted Yeager was the first mental health professional in Ramos’ life to classify him with an autism spectrum disorder. In fact, Letiess said Yeager was the first clinician to diagnose Ramos with any of the three mental disorders she said he had, the other two being delusional disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Leitess further argued Yeager didn’t compare Ramos’ scores on various types of mental tests to determine his deficiencies against other defendants awaiting trial. She also noted during cross-examination that Yeager had only previously testified at one other criminal trial in Tennessee.
Although yet to be introduced into evidence, Leitess questioned Yeager about a 124-page report written by Dr. Sameer Patel, a Maryland Department of Health forensic psychiatrist ordered by the court to examine Ramos. Patel has spent 20 hours with the shooter and previously determined he is mentally competent.
Although Yeager has testified Ramos is fixated on rules and is acutely concerned with the fairness of his insanity trial, Leitess noted the shooter told Patel his intent was to disrupt court proceedings.
“Did you notice the portion where it was his intent to make this trial a farce?” Leitess asked.
“Yes,” Yeager responded.
Letiess pointed to Ramos’ 3.78 grade-point average from his 2006 enrollment in Capitol College in Washington, where he aced both of his English communication courses. She also noted that Ramos had previously expressed his intent to his sister, Michelle Jeans, to appear psychotic and threatening thorough a series of Twitter messages, in preparation for filing a lawsuit against the Gazette over its coverage of his harassment charge.
Ramos’ smearing of his own feces in his Anne Arundel County jail cell on multiple occasions also appeared to be deliberate acts with an intended outcome, Leitess argued, noting he wrote to jail personnel that he would “continue shitting” in the vents of his cell until he was moved to another location.
Leitess used a PowerPoint presentation during most of her cross-examination of Yeager in an attempt to refute testimony about mental disorders with contradicting evidence. Some of those slides described the defendant’s childhood, comparing testimony about Ramos’ social isolation from defense witnesses to a report by Patel that detailed more than half a dozen of the shooter’s friends. Another slide said that although defense testimony depicted Ramos as ignoring his sister’s friends, his sister had told investigators Ramos would go out of his way to greet and talk to them.
Jurors also heard briefly from Dr. Dorothy Lewis, who appeared on an HBO documentary called “Crazy, Not Insane” in November of last year. Lewis described her research as studying the biopsychosocial motivators behind the violent acts of children and adults. She has given evaluations of numerous death-row inmates – including serial killer Ted Bundy – which influenced opinions by the U.S. Supreme Court restricting the execution of minors.
Lewis is expected to be one of the final witnesses called by Ramos’ public defenders. She interviewed Ramos alongside Yeager on several occasions and came to the same conclusion: he was suffering from a trio of psychological disorders that contributed to his inability to understand the criminal component behind his attack.
“This is not just a simple, single-word diagnosis,” Lewis said. “He has a combination of mental problems that together seem to cause this kind of violence. I would say in order of importance, he is delusional and his delusional beliefs have a great deal to do with his criminal behavior.”
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